


in vino veritas

by windthorne



Series: amor vincit omnia [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Childhood Sweethearts, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Growing Up, Hurt/Comfort, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23056861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windthorne/pseuds/windthorne
Summary: "in wine lies the truth"the fire lord and the last southern waterbender have a whiskey-laced conversation, and only the spirits remember.the prequel to carpe diem.
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: amor vincit omnia [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1657018
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	in vino veritas

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by patawad by moira dela torre and let us go by crush. two very different songs, two different languages-tagalog and korean. also the title is latin. yeah. i don’t know.

They’re a little drunk. A night of fire whiskey, and a few attempts to slow dance together in the moonlight have led them here, with her standing at the edge of the ocean and him on one knee.

There’s no necklace, ring, or any other item that holds promises between them. All they have is the look that they share.

“I’m sorry.” He says it with sincerity, his voice shaking. It’s two words that shake up her world, like she’s coming to a home that she didn’t know she had.

“Please,” he strains, one knee on the ground, one hand intertwined with hers. “I know it’s too late for this, but I just—“

“Zuko,” her thumb grazes the arch of his, a notion that doesn’t go unnoticed by the either of them. “What are you doing?”

The space between them is one that has been there since before they even began. A space that was meant for sparring, for bickering, for yearning. Never for this, not for holding, for touching, for _needing_.

She thinks that everything was lost when she woke up the day after the comet and turned to Aang, not even looking back at the banished prince who saved her life.

Though her healing had helped him more than enough, the days that passed were a blur. She was entrapped in healing her friends, being happy they _lived_. And Zuko—he was surrounded by healers on the dot, his uncle and Mai returning for him within the next moon, and there was just _no more time_. 

He is crowned the fire lord, and she is whisked away on Appa, all in the blink of an eye.

She looks back at the glances she shared with him, as they passed by each other in the palace hallways. The soft smiles when they caught each other staring across the campfires. The hands that intertwined at the temple, not out of friendship, but out of _something_.

But neither of them acknowledged it. Neither of them took a step. And now, years later, he is kneeling before her with no boundaries.

“I never told you,” he whispers, looking at the ground. Her other hand wraps around his and cradles it like a lifeline. “I couldn’t give you what you needed, what you deserved to know.”

“Don’t be vague with me,” she steps closer to him, a sadness seeping in. “Just tell me what's wrong.”

“I didn’t choose you.”

She stops breathing. The water nearby stills.

He looks up at her, expression full of regret. “Back then, I didn’t make you stay. I didn’t get you back from the chaos. I let it all happen, even though I knew it was you.” He grips her hand harder and brings it to his scar. _Oh_ , there goes their resolves. It was so over.

“Agni, it was always you, Katara.”

“You—“ She can't hold back the stutter, a broken cry in between. “You’re so _stupid_. You don’t get all of the blame in this. I let it happen, too.”

_Because I didn’t think. I let the world take us where we needed to be, not where we wanted to be._

“It wasn’t any more your fault than mine.” She reciprocates his touch and grazes the rough mark of his face. It's the first real feeling she knows he has had for so long. Nobody has touched that scar, and she can tell by the way he reacts so purely and freely. He sinks into her touch, and the barrier melts away every passing second they have together.

“Forgive me for figuring it all out too late.” She smiles at him with tears in her eyes.

He chuckles, eyes brimmed with liquid. “I guess we can’t blame each other if we’re both idiots.” He shifts his face and her hands land at his lips. He presses a gentle kiss, and it’s all too much. “Can’t we just choose for ourselves for once?”

It’s a scary blend of words, one that has a thousand different meanings, but she knows what he means.

“If only,” she laughs, but it sounds hollow. “if only.”

“If I could choose,” he’s so drunk, he knows it, he doesn’t care, “I would marry you. Give you a ring because your mother's necklace is yours to keep forever. I'd never take it off. Not even when--"

"Zuko--"

He makes a gesture, “I would put the ring on just like this,” as if he’s fitting one around her finger. He stares at her hand, almost as if he’s imagining it. “And I would make you stay with me. We would have twins.”

“Twins,” she sobs, looking at the sky (Yue, _please_ ), “I want a boy and a girl.”

“We could have both. We could have whatever you want.”

“As if I could choose.”

“Again with the choosing, yes. It’d be you.”

She scoffs, crying at the same time. “I’m too drunk to remember this in the morning.”

“Don’t,” he presses another kiss, “I won’t either.”

They keep their gazes away from each other, tears running everywhere and nowhere. The waves crash onto her feet, and she doesn't have the strength to push them away. The wind feels so cold, even in the midsummer heat of the fire nation. And the moon-it hides beneath the clouds, unable to watch anymore.

Somebody says it, she doesn’t know who. “What I would give to tell you I love you.”

She sinks onto her knees next to him, and they fall onto the sand together. He sits up as she moves into his space, cradling her as she sobs into his arms.

* * *

They wake up hungover and sick, far away from the ocean. They arise from their beds, in separate quarters far away from one another. Neither remember the night before, and only the spirits keep the memory alive.

They continue as they are, with his fire lord tasks and her water tribe duties. The two souls part ways from each other, and fate marvels at how they can stand the test of time so beautifully--and so tragically.

But destiny is a funny thing.

* * *

10 years later, Lyka, the daughter of the late Avatar Aang, is brought across the ocean to see the coronation of Kaito, the newly crowned prince of the fire nation, son of Fire Lord Zuko.

She brings forth the warm water tribe skin and the undeniably blue hue of her mother's eyes. He carries the inferno of his element, and looks like the spitting image of his father, bar the scar.

When young blue eyes meet amber, it feels familiar, breath-taking, and wondrous.

"Hello Prince Kaito," Lyka bows gracefully before him, and sends him a soft smile. He nods back, eyes wide and awestruck, but sends her a smile that is just as equally warm. 

When old blue eyes meet amber, it feels all too real. Like resilience, forgiveness. Like finally coming home.

"Hi Zuko," she embraces him tightly, formalities tossed aside even in front of their children. He matches her energy, cradling her head and inhaling the ocean scent of her hair. "Hi Katara." If it feels familiar, neither of them care to notice.

Elsewhere, in the spirit world, they continue to whisper about the love story that almost was.

**Author's Note:**

> the story behind this story: i finished crash landing on you (a k-drama that i highly recommend 10/10, if you see the reference you’re elite) and sobbed so much i was dehydrated and needed to relax. i listened to moira’s new song and became even more dehydrated, so i wrote this while listening and suddenly it became a prequel to a fic i wrote years ago. idk. you tell me.


End file.
